| True Colors | |
| Cover: | CyndiLTruecolor.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Cyndi Lauper |
| Album: | True Colors |
| B-Side: | Heading for the Moon |
| Released: | August 15, 1986[1] |
| Genre: | Synth-rock[2] |
| Length: | 3:46 |
| Label: | Epic |
| Producer: |
|
| Prev Title: | The Goonies 'R' Good Enough |
| Prev Year: | 1985 |
| Next Title: | Change of Heart |
| Next Year: | 1986 |
"True Colors" is a number one hit song written by American songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It was both the title track and the first single released from American singer Cyndi Lauper's second studio album of the same name (1986).[3] Released in mid-1986, the song spent two weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, being Lauper's second and last single to occupy the top of the chart. It received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Billy Steinberg originally wrote "True Colors" about his own mother. Tom Kelly altered the first verse and the duo originally submitted the song to Anne Murray, who passed on recording it, and then to Cyndi Lauper.[4] Their demo was in the form of a piano-based gospel ballad like "Bridge over Troubled Water". Steinberg told Songfacts that "Cyndi completely dismantled that sort of traditional arrangement and came up with something that was breathtaking and stark."[3] Other songs they wrote for Lauper include "I Drove All Night" and "Unconditional Love".
The accompanying music video for the song, which received heavy rotation on MTV, was directed by American choreographer Patricia Birch. In the video, Lauper sings on a dark soundstage, sitting beside a drum and holding a black flower. A young girl who explores a beach takes the flower and ends up seeing two women, one light-skinned and one dark-skinned, drinking tea on a boat. Lauper appears on the beach in an elaborate jeweled headdress with a shell in her hand. She is then seen lying on a white sheet, which a long haired man (David Wolff) proceeds to pull. They eventually share a kiss. Lauper is then seen walking on the beach with a skirt made of newspaper while she walks past a class of schoolchildren. At the end of the video, she leans over a pool of water, in a scene reminiscent of the album photo cover. The video ends as it began, only now, Lauper is beating on the drum four times, in time with the music.
Jerry Smith of the Music Week magazine deemed that "Lauper's fragile little girl voice" perfectly matches with this "effective ballad with its sympathetic, sparse accompaniment", but also added that this "downbeat style" was unlikely to make the song memorable.[5] Di Cross of Record Mirror was strongly critical of "True Colors", stating that Lauper "does nothing to restore her flagging credibility rating with a dire, slushy attempt at an emotional ballad, the mixture curdled further by some appalling little girl vocals, complete with whispering asides and chest beating passion play".[6]
"True Colors" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 25, 1986. It also peaked at number three in Australia and New Zealand, and number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. In Mexico's Notitas Musicales (Hit Parade) "True Colors" stayed several months on the Top 10, reaching #5 on January 15, 1987.
The single has become a popular anthem in the gay community. In various interviews, Lauper elaborated that the song had resonated with her because of the recent death of her friend, Gregory Natal, from HIV/AIDS.[7] Years later, Lauper co-founded the True Colors Fund,[8] a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating LGBT youth homelessness. On December 13, 2022, Lauper performed the song at the ceremony where U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law.[9]
"True Colors" was also featured in a 1999 promo for PBS Kids, a children's programming brand of the American public television network PBS.
Lauper embarked on a True Colors Tour in 2007 with several other acts, including Eddie Money, Deborah Harry and Erasure. The tour was for the Human Rights Campaign to promote LGBT rights in the US and beyond. A second True Colors Tour occurred in 2008.
| Chart (1986–1987) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[10] | 3 | |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[11] | 1 | |
| Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[12] | 1 | |
| Chile (Chilean Singles Chart)[13] | 1 | |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[14] | 18 | |
| Italy (Musica e dischi)[15] | 12 | |
| Mexico Hit Parade (RPM) | 5 | |
| South Africa (Springbok)[16] | 14 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[17] | 1 | |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) | 5 | |
| US Cash Box Top 100 | 1 | |
| Zimbabwe (ZIMA)[18] | 7 |
| Chart (1986) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[20] | 19 |
| Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)[21] | 49 |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[22] | 19 |
| Ireland (Single Top 30)[23] | 22 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[24] | 58 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[25] | 68 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[26] | 41 |
| US Cash Box Top 100[27] | 29 |
| True Colors | |
| Cover: | True Colors Phil Collins.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Phil Collins |
| Album: | ...Hits |
| B-Side: | In the Air Tonight |
| Released: | 26 October 1998 |
| Studio: | Brandon's Way (Los Angeles) |
| Length: | 4:34 |
| Label: | |
| Producer: | Babyface |
| Prev Title: | The Same Moon |
| Prev Year: | 1997 |
| Next Title: | You'll Be in My Heart |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
In 1998, the song was recorded by English musician Phil Collins for his first greatest hits album, ...Hits (1998). R&B singer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds produced and provided backing vocals. The track peaked at number 12 on the U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100, number two on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. It additionally reached the top 40 in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, and Hungary.
In 2004, a live rehearsal version was released on Collins' album.
UK CD1 and cassette single[28] [29]
UK CD2[30]
European CD single[31]
Australian CD single[32]
Credits are adapted from the UK CD1 liner notes.[28]
Studio
Personnel
| Chart (1998–2004) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[33] | 40 |
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[34] | 56 |
| Hungary (Mahasz)[35] | 7 |
| Poland (Music & Media)[36] | 2 |
| Chart (1998) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[37] | 24 | |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[38] | 39 |
| Chart (1999) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[39] | 27 | |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[40] | 14 |
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | September 22, 1998 | Contemporary hit radio | [41] | ||
| Japan | October 5, 1998 | CD | WEA | [42] | |
| United Kingdom | October 26, 1998 | [43] |
| True Colours | |
| Cover: | True_Colours_by_Kasey_Chambers.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Kasey Chambers |
| B-Side: |
|
| Released: | [44] |
| Label: | EMI Music |
| Producer: | Nash Chambers |
| Prev Title: | If I Were You |
| Prev Year: | 2002 |
| Next Title: | Hollywood |
| Next Year: | 2004 |
In 2003, Australian singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers' recording of "True Colors" became the theme song for the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The song peaked at number four, was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), and went on to be the 76th best-selling single in Australia that year. As of, it is Chambers' second-highest-charting single in Australia, after "Not Pretty Enough".
Australian CD single[45]
In 2009, Jenna Ushkowitz performed it on the television program Glee, and this version was included on the compilation album , released on December 4, 2009. The single charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and reached number 15 in Ireland, number 35 in the United Kingdom,[47] number 38 in Canada[48] [49] and number 47 in Australia.
In 2012, Artists Against Bullying (often styled as "Artists Against"), an agglomeration of seven Canadian musicians, re-recorded the song and released it during Bullying Awareness Week.[50] The project was inspired by the increase in teen bullying and cyberbullying, especially the Amanda Todd case,[51] with proceeds being donated to Kids Help Phone, a Canadian counseling service for children and youth.[51] The artists involved in the recording were Lights, Pierre Bouvier (from Simple Plan), Jacob Hoggard (from Hedley), Fefe Dobson, Kardinal Offishall, Alyssa Reid and Walk Off the Earth. The song entered the Canadian Singles Top 100 chart at number 10[52] the week it was released.
In 2016, Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick covered the song for the DreamWorks Animation movie Trolls. Their version was certified platinum in Brazil.[53]
For BBC Children in Need in 2019, 1,399 children sang the song in unison from nine towns across the UK. [54] The performance on the telethon started in the studio and as all the choirs sang it cut between them giving them about 20-25 seconds on air, all in real time as they sang. The choirs sang from: Elstree at Elstree Studios the studio just outside of London where the main telethon was held,[54] Hartlepool at The Town Hall Theatre,[54] Belfast at W5,[54] Maidstone at Allington Castle,[54] The Wirral at the Lady Lever Art Gallery,[54] Cardiff at The Broadcasting House,[54] Mountsorrel at The Mountsorrel Memorial Centre,[54] Larkhill at St Michael's CE Primary School,[54] Glasgow at BBC Pacific Quay[54] [55] [56]
